Plutarch, De exilio, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 17

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[17] ἀλλʼ ἐπονείδιστον ὁ φυγάς ἐστι; παρά γε τοῖς ἄφροσιν, οἳ καὶ τὸν πτωχὸν λοιδόρημα ποιοῦνται καὶ τὸν φαλακρὸν καὶ τὸν μικρόν, καὶ νὴ Δία τὸν ξένον καὶ τὸν μέτοικον. ἀλλὰ μὴν οἱ μὴ τούτοις ὑποφερόμενοι θαυμάζουσι τοὺς ἀγαθούς, κἂν 20 πένητες ὦσι κἂν ξένοι κἂν φυγάδες. ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁρῶμεν, ὥσπερ τὸν Παρθενῶνα καὶ τὸ Ἐλευσίνιον, οὕτω καὶ τὸ Θησεῖον ἅπαντας προσκυνοῦντας; καὶ μὴν ἔφυγε Θησεὺς ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, διʼ ὃν ἥκουσι¹ νῦν εἰς Ἀθήνας ἄνθρωποι, καὶ πόλιν ἀπέβαλεν ἣν οὐκ 25 607b ἔσχεν ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἐποίησε. τῇ δʼ Ἐλευσῖνι τί λείπεται καλόν, ἂν αἰσχυνώμεθα τὸν Εὔμολπον, ὃς ἐκ Θρᾴκης μεταστὰς ἐμύησε καὶ μυεῖ τοὺς Ἕλληνας; Κόδρος δὲ τίνος ὢν ἐβασίλευσεν; οὐ Μελάνθου φυγάδος ἐκ Μεσσήνης; τὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀντισθένους οὐκ 5 ἐπαινεῖς πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα ὅτι Φρυγία σού ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ; καὶ γὰρ ἡ τῶν θεῶν τί οὖν οὐ καὶ σὺ λοιδορούμενος φυγὰς ἀποκρίνῃ καὶ γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τοῦ καλλινίκου πατὴρ φυγὰς ἦν, καὶ ὁ τοῦ Διονύσου πάππος, ὡς ἐξεπέμφθη τὴν Εὐρώπην ἀνευρεῖν, 10 οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ἐπανῆλθε

Φοίνιξ πεφυκώς, ἐκ· δʼ ὁρίζεται² γένος,ʼ

607c εἰς τὰς Θήβας παραγενόμενος, εὔιον ὀρσιγύναικα³ Διόνυσον μαινομέναις ἀνθέοντα τιμαῖς; καὶ περὶ μὲν ὧν Αἰσχύλος⁴ ᾐνίξατο καὶ ὑπεδήλωσεν εἰπών 15

ἁγνόν τʼ Ἀπόλλω⁵ φυγάδʼ ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ θεόν

εὔστομά μοι κείσθω καθʼ Ἡρόδοτον· ὁ δʼ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς⁶ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς φιλοσοφίας προαναφωνήσας

ἔστιν⁷ ἀνάγκης χρῆμα, θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν,

εὖτὲ τις ἀμπλακίῃσι φόνῳ φίλα γυῖα μιήνῃ⁸, 20

δαίμονες⁹ οἵ τε μακραίωνος¹⁰ λελόγχασι βίοιο·

τρίς μιν μυρίας ὥρας ἀπὸ μακάρων ἀλάλησθαι. 607d

τὴν¹¹ καὶ ἐγὼ νῦν εἶμι¹² φυγὰς θεόθεν καὶ ἀλήτης·

οὐχ ἑαυτόν, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πάντας ἀποδείκνυσι μετανάστας ἐνταῦθα καὶ ξένους καὶ φυγάδας ἡμᾶς 5 ὄντας. οὐ γὰρ αἷμα, φησίν, ἡμῖν οὐδὲ πνεῦμα συγκραθέν, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, ψυχῆς οὐσίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν παρέσχεν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τούτων τὸ σῶμα συμπέπλασται γηγενὲς καὶ θνητόν· τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀλλαχόθεν ἡκούσης δεῦρο, τὴν γένεσιν ἀποδημίαν ὑποκορίζεται τῷ 10 πραοτάτῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων· τὸ δʼ ἀληθέστατον, φεύγει καὶ πλανᾶται θείοις ἐλαυνομένη δόγμασι καὶ νόμοις· εἶθʼ, ὥσπερ ἐν νήσῳ σάλον ἐχούσῃ πολύν, καθάπερ 607e φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων¹³, ὀστρέου τρόπον ἐνδεδεμένη τῷ σώματι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναφέρειν μηδὲ μνημονεύειν¹⁴ 15

ἐξ οἵης τιμῆς τε καὶ ὅσσου¹⁵ μήκεος ὄλβου

¹⁶ μεθέστηκεν, οὐ Σάρδεων Ἀθήνας οὐδὲ Κορίνθου Λῆμνον ἢ Σκῦρον ἀλλʼ οὐρανοῦ καὶ σελήνης γῆν ἀμειψαμένη καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βίον, ἐὰν¹⁷ μικρὸν ἐνταῦθα τόπον ἐκ τόπου παραλλάξῃ, δυσανασχετεῖ καὶ 20 ξενοπαθεῖ, καθάπερ φυτὸν ἀγεννὲς¹⁸ ἀπομαραινομένη. καίτοι φυτῷ μὲν ἔστι τις χώρα μᾶλλον ἑτέρας ἑτέρα πρόσφορος, ἐν ᾗ τρέφεται καὶ βλαστάνει βέλτιον· 607f ἀνθρώπου δʼ οὐδεὶς ἀφαιρεῖται τόπος εὐδαιμονίαν, ὥσπερ οὐδʼ ἀρετὴν οὐδὲ φρόνησιν, ἀλλʼ Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὸν τοῦ κύκλου τετραγωνισμὸν ἔγραφε, Σωκράτης δὲ φάρμακον πίνων ἐφιλοσόφει καὶ παρεκάλει φιλοσοφεῖν τοὺς συνήθεις, εὐδαιμονιζόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν· τὸν δὲ Φαέθοντα καὶ τὸν Τάνταλον 5 εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβάντας οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς περιπεσεῖν διὰ τὴν ἀφροσύνην.

De exilio. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Περὶ φυγῆς (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol 3. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.)

Translations (1)

Of Banishment, or Flying One's Country. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 3. Goodwin, William W., editor; Patrick, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 17 focus

[17] But is it not then an ignominious thing to be an exile? Yes, it is among fools, with whom it is a reproach to be poor, to be bald, or of low stature, and (with as much reason) to be a stranger or a pilgrim. But they that do not fall into these mistakes admire good men, though they happen to be poor or strangers or in exile. Do not we see the temple of Theseus venerated by all men, as well as the Parthenon and Eleusinium? And yet Theseus was banished from Athens, by whose means it is at this time inhabited; and lost his abode in that city, which he did not hold as a tenant, but himself built. And what remarkable thing is there remaining in Eleusis, if we are ashamed of Eumolpus, who coming thither from Thrace initiated the Greeks, and still does so, in the mysteries of religion? And whose son was Codrus, that reigned at Athens, but of that Melanthus who was banished from Messene? Will you not commend that speech of Antisthenes, who, when one said to him, Phrygia is thy mother, replied, She was also the mother of the Gods? And if any one reproach thee with thy banishment, why canst not thou answer, that the father of the great conqueror Hercules was an exile? And so was Cadmus the grandfather of Bacchus, who, being sent abroad in search for Europa, did return no more:

Sprung from Phoenicia, to Thebes he came;

Thebes to his grandson Bacchus lays a claim,

Who there inspires with rage the female rout,

That worship him by running mad about.

As for those things which Aeschylus obscurely insinuates in that expression of his,

And of Apollo, chaste God, banished heaven,

I’ll favor my tongue, as Herodotus phrases it, and say nothing.

Empedocles, when he prefaces to his philosophy thus,—

This old decree of fate unchanged stands,—

Whoso with horrid crimes defiles his hands,

To long-lived Daemons this commission’s given

To chase him many ages out of heaven.

Into this sad condition I am hurled,

Banished from God to wander through the world,—

does not here only point at himself; but in what he says of himself he shows the condition of us all, that we are pilgrims and strangers and exiles here in this world. For know, says he, O men, that it is not blood nor a spirit tempered with it that gave being and beginning to the soul, but it is your terrestrial and mortal body that is made up of these. And by the soft name of pilgrimage, he insinuates the origin of the soul, that comes hither from another place. And the truth is, she flies and wanders up and down, being driven by the divine decrees and laws; and afterwards, as in an island surrounded with a great sea, as Plato speaks, she is tied and linked to the body, just like an oyster to its shell, and because she is not able to remember nor relate,

From what a vast and high degree

Of honor and felicity

she has removed,—not from Sardis to Athens, not from Corinth to Lemnos or Scyros, but having changed heaven and the moon for earth and an earthly life,—if she is forced to make little removes here from place to place, the soul hereupon is ill at ease and troubled at her new and strange state, and hangs her head like a decaying plant. And indeed some one country is found to be more agreeable to a plant than another, in which it thrives and flourishes better; but no place can deprive a man of his happiness, unless he pleases, no more than of his virtue and prudence. For Anaxagoras wrote his book of the Squaring of a Circle in prison; and Socrates, just when he was going to drink the poison that killed him, discoursed of philosophy, and exhorted his friends to the study of it; who then admired him as a happy man. But Phaëton and Tantalus, though they mounted up to heaven, yet, the poets tell us, through their folly fell into the extremest calamities.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ φυγῆς

1. ἥκουσι *: οἰκοῦσι. quam coniecturam nunc video ab Emperio occupatam

2. ἐκ δ’ ὁρίζεται ex ἐκ δ’ ἀμείβεται (vid. Nauck. p. 627) consulto effecit Plutarchus, ut ad γένος apposite subiungeret: εὔιον ὀρσιγύναικα κἑ. cf. Paus. 3, 24, 3

3. εὐήνορσι γυναῖκα - θύοντα mei codd. correxi ex p. 389 b

4. Αἰσχύλος] Suppl. 214

5. Ἀπόλλω M: ἀπόλλωνος

6. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς] Mullach. 1 p. 1

7. ἔστιν R: ἔστι τί

8. μιήνῃ] μιν codd. mei

9. δαίμονες κἑ] δαίμων οἵτε βίοιο λελόγχασι μακραίωνος Mullachius

10. μακραίωνος Karstenius: μακραίωνες

11. τὴν] intellegit ὁδὸν Karstenius. ὡς dat Philoponus

12. εἶμι Philoponus: εἰμὶ

13. Πλάτων] Phaedr. p. 250 c

14. μὴ ἀναφέρειν μηδὲ μνημονεύειν Stobaeus 40, 5: μὴ μνημονεύειν μηδὲ ἀναφέρειν

15. ὄσσου Stobaeus: ὅσου

16. vid. Mullach. 1. 1.

17. ἐὰν idem: ἵνα

18. ἀγεννὲς] εὐγενὲς R

Plutarch De exilio 17

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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